Lost in the Forest
by AvaniAcrux
Summary: A girl finds herself lost in the forest, and she has no idea how she got there or why she's suddenly talking to a boy in a red cone hat. Will Megan ever make it out of the forest or is her soul doomed to wander forever? Contains some strong language and violent scenes in later chapters...
1. Chapter 1

"Wait, what am I doing here?" I stopped dead in the middle of a clearing, "And why am I asking myself? I don't know the answer any better than I do. Oh jeez, I must be going insane. These woods are doing weird things to my head, and I don't even know how I got in here in the first place. First things first, I need to stop talking to myself."

I glanced around the clearing. It was nothing but a thick arsenal of ancient trees surrounding me, blocking out all light other than a wash of sun filtering through the overhead leaves. I wondered if I was going the right way, not that I had any idea which way would get me out of here.

I continued to walk. The trees were getting thicker and gnarly roots spread across the near existent trail at my feet, forcing me to clamber over branches and diverge deeper into the woods where the path became blocked entirely. Now I was even more lost than before. In fact, I had the feeling I'd been in this patch of trees already. I was going in circles! My legs flopped down and I settled myself on a stump, head in hands, trying to think of what to do next.

"Hey." a voice behind me and I snapped upright again, swivelling around to face them. It was a boy, tall and thin and wearing a blue cape and red cone hat. "Are you lost?" he stepped out from the trees and stopped several feet away. A lantern hung from his right hand. "What's your name?"

"Uh, it's- uhh…" my tongue felt like it was in a knot, "Megan."

The boy in the red cone hat smiled and raised his lantern to his face as he strode gracefully over a high tendril of tree root, "Well, where are you trying to get to? Perhaps I can help."

I stared at him. The light from his lantern fell on his face, which looked friendly enough, but I could see there was something else in his eyes. Was it sadness, or more like sympathy. A few small tufts of brown hair lay on his forehead and by his ears. From my guess, he was at that awkward not-a-teenager-not-an-adult age. In other words, older than me.

"Megan, are you alright?"

"Uh yeah. Yeah I'm fine, just um, well. Where am I?" my words came out so quickly that I doubted the boy caught any of it, "I mean, I'm really lost."

"Don't worry." the boy grinned, "It's easy to get lost in this forest. Come with me, let's get you where you need to be."

And so I followed the boy in the blue cape and red cone hat through the forest.


	2. Chapter 2

The silence was killing me. I wished he would say something, and I didn't care what it was. I just wanted him to at least turn around and acknowledge my existence before I went crazy. As we walked, him eight paces ahead of me, I looked at his back. His blue cape was faded and torn a little at the ends. In fact, his entire wardrobe looked like it once fit him, but he'd grown several inches since then.

I cleared my throat, "Uh, I never got your name."

"Wirt."

"Oh. Um, I'm Megan. Wait, I already told you that, didn't I? Yeah. Sorry, where are we going again?" I was starting to sound like the annoying kid of the two of us, but I couldn't help it.

"We're walking." he said.

"Yeah, I know that. But where are we walking to?"

"We're walking until you figure out where you want to go." he stopped suddenly, and I noticed there were two separate paths leading off in different directions from where he stood, "So?"

"How can I choose a path if I don't know where they lead?"

"You're all questions." he turned around and walked towards me, "This is your decision. Which path does your gut prefer?"

I stared at him as he lowered his head level to mine and raised his eyebrows. Wow, his eyes…

"Well," I examined each of the paths in turn. They were both almost exactly the same. Trees, dirt, trees, bushes, trees and the occasional intrusive boulder blocking half the muddy trail. "I don't know, you choose for me."

Wirt rolled his eyes and sighed, "You don't get it, do you? I can't. Anyway, I'm about as lost as you are. This part of the forest is new to me too."

"But you said-"

"Which path?" he urged, stepping back and standing with one hand pointing left and the lantern in his other pointing right.

"Fine, right." I scowled, the light from his lantern was lighting up that path, making it look slightly safer. Stupid thing to base my decision on, I know, but I was confused and getting annoyed.

"Okay, right it is." Wirt smiled and began walking in that direction. I followed. What was I doing? A few minutes along the dirty track which wasn't really a track, more of a hollow in the forest floor, made by hundreds of feet previously stomping along and flattening the earth, I brought up a new question.

"What's with the hat?"

Wirt didn't turn around but his shoulders gave a quick shake and I could tell he was laughing. "Wow, never had that question pop up before. People usually just assume I'm a gnome and roll with it."

"I'm not stupid, and I know you're not a gnome." I wondered what he meant by 'never had that question before'. _Before?_ So, he's led other people through the forest besides me?

"Halloween costume that just sorta stuck." he said simply, "Anyway, I think it looks pretty cool. Makes me look mysterious and interesting, doesn't it?"

"Right. You could say that, I suppose." It began to dawn on me that despite this guys massive height jump on me, we might actually be closer in age than I thought. That was reassuring.

Please review if you're liking this story and also give me plot requests! This story can go any way really 'cos I don't actually have a plan. I'm just trying to roll with it and I tend to work in inspiration bursts rather than plans. Thank you!

Also, my name is Megan, in case you were curious about the name...


	3. Chapter 3

"Where are we?" I said again, provoking an annoyed grunt from Wirt as he clambered over a large rock. His cape dragged on a patch of wet moss and dampened slightly at the end.

"We're in the woods. I thought that was obvious."

"Yeah, no. I mean-"

"Where do you live?" I suddenly realised at this question that Wirt was American. His voice had a strong accent that I only noticed once he addressed our country gap.

"England. Somerset, I should say." I said simply, anxious for Wirt's reply. "So, where are we?"

"Yeah, around there." he murmured, stepping around a tree sproutling.

Great, I knew he was just saying that to shut me up.

We continued through the forest in more awkward dreadful silence to the point that I could actually hear the blood flowing smoothly through my ears. The trees seemed to be getting closer as we made our way through countless glades, and I found myself counting my steps. I often catch myself doing this, usually on stairs or while crossing the road. Here, in the middle of a deep, steadily darkening forest, I guessed I was just doing it to focus on something other than my annoyance towards Wirt and his closed answers.

A rock suddenly appeared under my foot and I tripped, falling headlong into Wirt's blue caped back.

"Hey, what-?" he gasped before I managed to straighten up and quickly step back.

"Yep no, nothing. Sorry, it was a rock." I muttered, rubbing my head where I'd cracked it on Wirt's spine. "That rock, y'know. Just came at me outta nowhere…"

He stared at me for a few seconds, trying not to laugh, by the looks of it. Rude. Finally, his face split into a chuckle and he gave me the nicest smile I'd ever seen. Wonky and not quite reaching his eyes, but still a strong, happy smile nonetheless.

"Heh, are you okay?" he looked down and frowned slightly. I followed his gaze, and met specks of red on my ripped jeans. Oh damn, did I cut myself when I fell? "Looks like you skinned your knees a little." Wirt immediately stooped down to look closer, "Won't need bandages or anything just yet. Air'll do them some good. But we should probably make a quick stop at my place and grab some antiseptic to be safe. That okay?"

"I thought you said you were just as lost as me?" I questioned him, remembering his earlier claim.

His cheeks reddened and he rubbed the back of his neck, looking embarrassed, "Yeah well, I guess that wasn't entirely true…" What a dork… He didn't think that through at all.

"Well then, we better hurry up, right? It's getting dark and I might die of blood loss."

"Don't be so overdramatic… C'mon then." He held the lantern high as he stood up again, "Follow me and try not to bleed all over the place"

A smirk followed this and again, I was following the boy in the red pointed hat through the forest.


End file.
